After two Army recruiters fail to recruit Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney, who are working in a shoe store in the mall (where Bart and Milhouse go to torture the bullies, and are later beaten up when the bullies' boss resigns from his job) they realize that the teenagers of Springfield are too smart to want to join the army, so they visit Springfield Elementary School to trick kids into signing Delayed Entry Program so that upon reaching the age of majority, they will automatically be enlisted.

An excited Bart comes home from school and shows Homer and Marge his pre-enlistment form. Marge is instantly appalled at the idea of Bart joining the Army when he turns 18, so she sends Homer down to the Army Recruitment Center to make them cancel Bart’s pre-enlistment. Homer forces the two Army Recruiters to tear up Bart’s pre-enlistment contract, but in the process, the Army Recruiters convince him to join the Army instead.

Homer is then shipped off the next morning to Fort Clinton, where they undergo rigorous exercises (except Homer, as apparently his "punishment" for acting like a clown involved eating donuts while watching his fellow soldiers do pushups, and having his feet massaged).

At the post Homer infuriates the colonel. While the majority of recruits are assigned to the frontline infantry (Including Rainier Wolfcastle, who was told he would be making recruitment films), Homer is assigned to OPFOR during the Army's war games along with the other recruits considered too stupid to be cannon-fodder. At the war games, instead of blanks like they should be using the army is using live ammo with the intent of actually killing them, Homer, thinking it was Chinese New Year, accidentally exposes his unit's location by launching a flare. The flare blinds the soldiers, who were all wearing night vision goggles. Homer and his unit soon escape into Springfield with the Army close behind. The Colonel orders his troops to invade the town, thanks to leverage from the National Broccoli Day proclamation. The Army declares martial law in Springfield. Homer's unit hides in Moe's Tavern, but Moe betrays them in exchange for a large wad of cash. Homer escapes through a manhole in the floor of the basement and makes his way to his own home, although the rest of his unit is captured. Soon, he is pursued through the house by a UAV until (in a scene reminiscent of the Looney Tunes gags) he blows it up in a closet. The Colonel then begins to round up and detain all men who are "Fat, or bald, or have ever been amused by the antics of Homer Simpson." This includes Comic Book Guy, Barney Gumble and Superintendent Chalmers, who states that he's balding. Because of the round-ups, Homer hides out at the Retirement Castle, forced to listen to Grandpa talking about anyone else's relatives.

Marge rallies the Springfield community with a phone tree to coordinate resistance to the occupiers, in order to make a plan. The citizens spike the town reservoir with alcohol, intoxicating the occupying force. The colonel's resulting hangover is so great he reluctantly surrenders to the townsfolk, stipulating only that Homer finish his enlistment. Homer does so by becoming a recruiter at the Springfield Mall but doesn't get much success.

Robert Canning of IGN.com hated the episode, calling it "painfully unfunny", and "the show's attempt to satirize the state of the U.S. military simply crossed the line of good taste". He concluded that it was "by far" the worst episode of the season, and "quite possibly" the worst episode in the entire of The Simpsons history.[1]